Cave Divers Association of Australia

The Course

The Deep Cavern Course is the amalgamation of skills and knowledge necessary to safely dive in Cavern and Sinkhole rated sites. Training covers areas that may have zero visibility and the potential for unlimited visibility. A maximum depth of 40m is recommended.

Cavern Site

Defined as body of water which has a maximum depth of 20 metres, slight overhangs, near vertical ascents and where daylight is always visible (eg limestone caverns, dams, flooded quarries, lakes etc). The maximum penetration allowed is 40 metres from the surface.

Sinkhole Site

Defined as a body of fresh water which can have large passages (no restrictions too small for two divers to swim adjacent to each other) and which exceeds 20 metres in depth. The maximum linear penetration allowed is 60 metres from the surface. The CDAA recommends a maximum depth of 40m on air.

Prerequisites

Before commencement of a CDAA Deep Cavern diver training program the candidate must:

1. Hold an Advanced Open Water level recreational SCUBA diver award and be qualified as an Open Water diver for a minimum of 12 months.
2. Have logged a minimum of 25 dives (post Advanced Open Water level) totalling a minimum of 20 hours, including at least two night dives and five dives deeper than 25 metres.
3. Minimum age 18 years.
4. Successfully complete a diving medical statement.

Theory

To include CDAA history, natural history, equipment considerations, buoyancy and anti-silting, communications, reel and guideline use, gas management, physiological considerations, decompression, access procedures, dive planning, emergency procedures, hazards, accident analysis.

Equipment

Minimum requirements include:

1. Suitable exposure suit
2. Mask and fins
3. Small sharp cutting device
4. Watch or bottom timer or computer
5. Depth gauge if not using a computer
6. BCD
7. Twin cylinders minimum capacity 2200 litres
8. Two regulator first stages each with one second stage attached, one of which has a hose that is at least 1.5 metres in length (recommended length 2m)
9. One primary and two back up lights
10. Submersible decompression tables if not using a dive computer
11. Pencil and slate
12. Two submersible pressure gauges (SPG) if using an independent system (only 1 required if using an isolation manifold)
13. Primary cave reel with a minimum of 100m of line

Skill Sessions

To include reel use, line placement techniques, reel locking and abandonment, blackout line following, air sharing while following a line, buoyancy and anti-silting techniques, communications, emergency management, climbing and belaying techniques.

Supervised Dives

Six dives in CDAA rated Caverns and Sinkholes.